True Grit: between fábula and trama

Abstract

In this research, it is analyzed the novel True Grit, written by Charles Portis and published in 1968, and its film adaptations, made in 1969 and 2010. It is started from the fábula and trama concepts – also known as fábula and enredo, narração and mostração, estória and discurso – that indicate several narratives can be created from an only one. It is used the studies developed by Seymour Chatman, Umberto Eco, Hélio Guimarães, Linda Hutcheon, Linda Seger, Ismail Xavier, André Gaudreault and François Jost to understand how these concepts work in the literature and cinema relationship. For reflection about the two films, it is resorted to the reviews published by Isabela Boscov, Yuri Celico, Thiago M. Correia, Marcelo Hessel, André Sollito and Rubens Ewald Filho. It is perceived the adaptation is a process of textual reconstruction in which the individual inserts his/ her personal and social experiences. So, the two film versions of True Grit are characterized as interpretations of different readers – in this case, the filmmakers Henry Hathaway and Joel and Ethan Coen.